Back to the Blog

Yesterday’s post, where I compared my weight loss to M&Ms, bowling balls, country music stars, and more (did you read it? It’s quite fun!), was my first real blog post in almost a week, and it felt nice to post something again, although I must admit it also felt nice to take a little break from the blog for a few days. I find that I put undue pressure on myself (in many regards), and last week I found myself getting stressed because I was struggling to come up with blog topics, and I started feeling like if I didn’t post I’d be letting my readers down, and that stressed me further and made it tougher to come up with compelling things to write about…

It was a nasty, vicious circle (and so unimportant, in the grand scheme of things), but I recognized it, and decided to step away from the whole situation altogether. I don’t want that stress in my life, especially not linked to blogging, an activity that I enjoy, and find motivating and therapeutic. Not thinking about the blog for a few days was a lovely respite, and, of course, once I stopped looking for topics, all sorts of great ideas came to me, including some of the weight loss comparisons in yesterday’s post. So now there’s some catching up to do, and I look forward to doing it!

I thought I’d first catch you up on my exercise. Last week I didn’t work out as much as I would have liked (which, I think, added to my stress). Monday was a planned rest day, but on both Wednesday and Friday laziness got the better of me, and I didn’t move a muscle. Luckily, I had great workouts on Tuesday (boot camp class) and Thursday (ellliptical, free weights, and recumbent bike at the gym), so the week wasn’t a complete wash.

So, on Saturday morning, I decided I couldn’t let the past week become a habit, and since then, I’ve had 4 fun, great workouts, and lucky for you, they all come with visual aids!

1) Slimmons (Saturday Morning): The theme for Richard Simmons’ class on Saturday Morning was all new music, and Richard decided to dress as a pink poodle to lead the class. Because I’ve been posting videos from recent classes, you know that Richard goes all out when he dons a costume (this post has a video of him as one of The Four Tops, and this post as a video of him in KISS make-up and wardrobe), and Saturday was no exception. Check it out!

Did you see me in that video? I’m in a green t-shirt. It’s strange – when you watch the video on YouTube, you can easily see me behind Richard during the last 10 seconds or so, but when I embedded it here, I get cropped out. Oh well. It was a crowded class, but a good one, and I’m quite certain the first class I’ve taken that was taught by a dog! I saw Richard kiss a few people after class, and then wipe away the pink smudges he left on their faces… hilarious. I got away pink smudge-free (we air-hugged).

2) Fryman Canyon Hike (Saturday Afternoon). I was putzing around my place later that afternoon when my friend Chris texted me, and proposed going hiking. I didn’t have plans, so why not? We headed to Fryman Canyon (which I’ve blogged about before – here and here), and had a great hour-long hike. At one point, Chris snapped a picture of me on his phone, which he emailed to me later, with a subject line that read “Album Cover”. Sure enough, it looks like it could be the cover image of a 1960’s folk album, so I had a little fun with photoshop and came up with this:

It’ll be available on iTunes and Amazon soon (and by ‘soon’, I mean ‘never’).

3) Run (Sunday Afternoon). It’s been a loooong time since I’ve gone running – the last time was way back on March 17 (with Chris, folk album photographer extraordinaire, at Porn Star Park). So on Sunday, I laced up my shoes, grabbed my iPod, and hit the streets. I set out without any goals, as far as route, distance, or time were concerned – I just decided to go for as long as I could, and since it’s been about three weeks since I’ve gone running, I didn’t have huge expectations, either.

So how did I do? Not too shabby at all. I ran for 47 minutes, and went 4.5 miles. Here’s the route I ended up taking:

Wanna know how many fast food restaurants I passed along the way? Ten. Del Taco, Subway, KFC, Carl’s Jr., Taco Bell, another Subway, Burger King, McDonalds, El Pollo Loco, and Jack in the Box. I’ve eaten at every single one of them, too, back when I used to eat fast food (I still eat Subway every once in a while).

4) Gym (Monday Evening). After work, I headed to the gym, where I did 35 minutes on the Arc Trainer, and 13.5 minutes on the StairMaster. Like last time, I tried to do as much of it (excluding some warm-up and cool-down time) doing 2 steps at a time, and this time, I also decided to push myself and see how fast I could go. Normally I top out at Level 12 or so, but this time, I made it up to Level 14 (for about a minute).

The total numbers of floors I climbed was 70, so for today’s visual comparison, we’re going all the way to Yokohama, Japan. The tallest building in Japan is located in Yokohama – it’s called Yokohama Landmark Tower – and whadya know? It has 70 floors! Yep, I climbed the equivalent of this:

Between the Arc Trainer and the Stairmaster, I burned over 900 calories!

11 Responses to Back to the Blog

Hi David! Nice Blog here.Still trying to get over Slimmons Poodle outfit…watched it 4 times,I’m easily entertained lol Sound of silence funny…reminds me more of Little Guy In the Prairies.And yes David I have stopped completely with NO FAST FOODS for a month,feel so much better. I must say though that the exercise is slow movement but it’s coming.Tower cool…Wow 900 calories…your a machine & getting so lean…Sorry had to put that in.You are amazing KeepItUpDavid ! ~*Smiles*~

You know it’s so funny how we allow the stresses of things that really don’t matter to get the best of us. I’m proud of you for taking a break when your body and mind most likely needed it! A few weeks ago I did what’s called the “Fight For Air Climb” with the ALA. I climbed 23 stories three times. So I can attest that was QUITE the workout you did! Good job! You should be proud of ALL of the accomplishments you are making – especially jogging past the fast food places. They just opened a McD the other day a block from my house and the first 100 people in line were going to get 1 year free food. I totally wanted to go down and talk them all off the ledge. Keep inspiring!!!

I put undo pressure on myself all of the time. I have struggled with weight issues all of my life and I work in the weight loss industry so I feel like a hypocrite when I eat poorly or don’t exercise like I should. I always feel like I have to set the “perfect example” but I am also human and make mistakes just like anyone else. I love what I do because I know I am helping people change their lives but it does take its toll on me at times. You were wise to listen to the little voice inside of you that told you to step back and take a break. I am going to follow your lead and do the same.

LOVE the album cover, it reminds me of home……IRELAND. You are really inpiring me to get motivated. I lost 30lbs last year but in October, I lost the best friend I ever had, and, well, the comfort eating took over. I found your blog after seeing you on Ellen, through facebook I think?? Anyway, I am really inspired by you and can see that I need to get on my bike again and eat less and more healthy……but it IS easier said than done, but your blogs are a great inspiration, including the weight chart design……..I have the graph paper ready and am going to put it on the bedroom wall, I SO need to see it, right smack in my face in the morning, to move me!!!!!
THanks for all your blogs and WELL DONE on your tremendous work and keeping it up!!!!
V

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In A Nutshell

A big hello to everyone that's discovering Keep It Up, David for the first time! I'm glad you're here.

My name is David. I live in Los Angeles, and I'm 35 years old. In January 2010, I began eating better and exercising more, so I could lose weight. So far, so good - I've lost and kept off 160 pounds! But it's a tough road, and I need to keeping finding new ways to keep motivated and on-track. I'll blog about my progress and share my struggles and successes. Join me on my journey!